Money and Share

We’re going to have a far more detailed look at the latest Newcastle United accounts as revealed yesterday and click here courtesy of TF’s in-house finance professional Andy Trobe (@TFAT1892) but felt the early news regards them as well as Darren Eales interview via NUFC TV should get a reference in this here fanzine. If you can’t wait for Andy’s piece let me recommend this as an excellent explainer of what the accounts tell us.

Firstly, the 2022/23 accounts are unquestionably positive. We are by no means as big a hitter as Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool etc but after less than two years since the takeover no-one would seriously expect that. However for United to have accelerated to a place just outside of the so-called top six and ahead of Villa, West Ham, Everton et al after the calcifying commercial years of Mike Ashley should not go without mention. I’ll refer you to this interview with Henry Winter  of The Telegraph and his estimate the value of United has possibly trebled to £1bn from the £330m purchase price between 2021 and 2023. There is debt but this seems good business to me.

It should also be noted that these accounts do not include the new deals announced since the end of the 22/23 year which include the SELA sponsorship and next summer’s switch to adidas as our kit manufacturer. As Eales says in the interview the end of the Castore deal allows us to have our own retail operation and all of that combined will strengthen our commercial operations. What price Newcastle United stores across Saudi and the Middle East?

It is also inconceivable there won’t be other sponsorships added to what we have already.

We are behind the top six but we have got closer to Spurs and anyone can bookmark this but it is my prediction we will overtake them in the next 2-3 years if not sooner. I have a mental picture of Daniel Levy poring over the United numbers with fevered interest and can leave you to speculate upon the health of his sphincter muscle when our accounts are made public annually.

Thereafter the mission will be able to reel in Arsenal and Chelsea might actually implode if they continue to be as badly run as they are now. Man City, Man Utd and Liverpool may take longer but we are headed down that track.

The media strangely have focused on Eales’ remarks about playing trading as if we were about to sell off one of our prized assets imminently. It is a grotesque distortion of what was said. United is in no different a position to any other club but much stronger than we were. Indeed as our own Alex Hurst commented yesterday United has already sold a star player when Allan Saint-Maximin hit the road to Saudi Arabia last summer. You might also include the sales of Jonjo Shelvey and Chris Wood last January within that too.

Few would have any doubt there are players at United the club might want to move on to create headroom to bring in stronger replacements and we all have our own thoughts about how that works.

But it is baffling the media should lead on the unlikely sale of top players in its reporting of the accounts given the context is so overwhelmingly positive. Perhaps that’s the problem for them?

Elsewhere in the brief update Eales also references plans for stadium expansion (or relocation). It is everyone’s preference to remain at SJP for reasons of tradition. The next few months will tell us more about how that is going to play out. I think we all recognise the current capacity and facilities of SJP aren’t fit for purpose for a club with the loftiest of ambitions.

I have to say my intuition tells me we will move to a new stadium despite all the warm words about SJP but we will have to wait for that. Again though, a club looking to substantially increase the capacity of its stadium  because of massive demand is an overwhelmingly positive news story. Not that you’d have noticed.

Fab News

He sometimes goes under the radar but our Swiss defender Fabian Schar has been a revelation over the last two years. If anyone wanted evidence of the unsuitability of Steve Bruce for top level coaching it is Schar unable to get a game under the bacon-meister in a struggling side but becoming a lynchpin of a side qualifying and competing in the Champions League. It was brilliant news this week then to hear Fabian has committed to an extended contract which will mean the defender brought to United by the excellent Rafa Benitez will likely see out most of the rest of his career at SJP.

United might need to bring in a new right-sided central defender to succeed Fab over the longer period but his experience and commitment to United can’t have a price put on it.

Not so FAB News

I will put my cards on the table. I don’t think the Newcastle United Fans Advisory Board has got off to a great start. That the Head of Supporter Services, Sarah Medcalf selected those to sit on the board isn’t a great way to convince anyone those chosen will reflect the feelings of supporters in meetings with the club are genuine.Who are they accountable to?

There has been outrage at a new supporter based in New York should find herself on a fans board after only discovering Newcastle United post-takeover but managing (cough) luckily to have tickets for some high profile matches has set hares running about where the club’s priorities lie in developing the club’s support in forthcoming years.

That does not excuse some of the abuse the woman has received since the announcement and I wonder at the mentality of those who set up fake social media accounts to make life difficult for others.

I do support 100% the role of the Newcastle United Supporters Trust in participating within the FAB structure. With 10,000 members NUST is one of the largest supporters organisations in the country and given it is properly constituted with an elected board and bona-fide constitution it is completely democratic.

Currently, it is the only democratic members-based organisation we have and having been established for 15 years it has a track record of fan activism and is by some distance the best fan group Newcastle United has ever had in the entire history of the club. That is a fact.

Oddly, however there is a minority of social media accounts who appear dedicated to lying and dissembling about NUST, its board members and its aims and objectives. Some of it is deeply unpleasant but I have to say sadly typical of social media discourse where some are emboldened by their anonymity.

Anyone would think it was a co-ordinated assault upon NUST by those who would like to replace it but who sad for them lack the intelligence, organisational capacity and credibility to do so.

It is only my opinion but I do welcome the involvement of the Newcastle United Disabled Supporters Association (NUDSA) and United With Pride (UWP) groups within the FAB. They have an important role to play in developing the club’s equality, diversity and inclusion strategies to ensure United is accessible to everyone across the community. The Club of the North mantra isn’t just about geography, it is about ensuring Newcastle United is the club for everyone in the region and its hinterlands.

Tickets Please

There’s going to be another ticket workshop. I hope it is going to be less contentious than the previous one which is widely believed to have been a tick box exercise where the club used these gatherings as cover to justify what it wanted to do anyway.

There is nothing exercising supporters more than tickets at the moment. Questions are asked at almost every game about how many tickets are going to corporate, sponsors, players, staff as opposed to those who have done the hard miles and racked up the loyalty points following United in the dark days of Mike Ashley. Peter Silverstone’s denial tickets sold on secondary sale sites are genuine left many baffled.

The decision to allow unlimited memberships and allocate tickets via ballots without any reference to previous buying history grates on long term fans who are appalled at tales of tourists in the stands taking their places. That might be overstated but the cumulative impact of decisions taken by those without any intuition about what it means to be a supporter is completely unfair.

This week I have seen Villa (a) drop to 5 points and there is a fear the away end may not even sell-out and that is a combination of the game taking place at an awkward KO time and the destruction of the previous supporters’ ecosystem which ensured tickets were passed to Mags around the UK who filled away ends and gave great support to the team. That has now been compromised by the club which has opted to a level of over-policing I find worrying. It is flat out untrue the previous system was a closed shop – my TF comrade Marc Corby has all the details about the away games that dropped to nil points and it is simply untrue tickets were sold on at inflated prices. No-one could sell any ticket on at a profit at a time when United gave 10K season tickets away following Rafa’s departure.

It is true (though overstated) some supporters increased their loyalty points by passing tickets on to others. But that was because the system prevented loyalty points from going anywhere else. That was an issue that could have been easily resolved by the establishment of a United Travel Club which could do far more for supporters than the current drift to destroying the quality of United’s brilliant away support.

I can only look at the next workshop with a growing sense of dread.

Sign o’ the Times

It’s Friday morning and I’m still reading stuff about the scudding United handed out to the Mackems on their patch. There has been a lot of talk about the team photo taken post-match in front of the Jason Tindall Stand (aka North Stand) with some media gobshites piling in to give us their unwanted opinions. Strangely there has been less coverage of the misogynistic abuse hurled in the direction of Amanda Staveley (complete with disgusting flag) in ignorance of the Huntingdon’s Disease which he suffers from.

We’ve almost become used to the abuse rained down on Alan Shearer and long in the tooth Mags remember the “Jackie Is Dead” chanting from the Fulwell End in the early 90s and not to mention the abuse towards Sir Bobby Robson “he’s nearly dead”, “he’s pissed himself” and latterly the poison towards Gary Speed tragedy.

Additionally there has been little coverage of the Islamophobic and racist abuse to go the way of Ms Staveley’s husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi on account of his Iranian heritage and a wider pig ignorant stereotyping of Saudis as terrorists. This is all weaponised by the FTM goon squad but I ask the question would it be brushed under the account had we Mags been the protagonists? I seriously doubt it.

Those of us with long memories know The Guardian would have been all over it.

It seems hate-chanting gets a pass so as long as it’s from a club you like.

However, it is perhaps no bad thing key members of United’s board of directors have been given an insight into the bitter and toxic nature of the worst element’s Sunderland’s support. Vengeance is a dish best tasted cold etc.

There was more bitter weirdness in the aftermath of the game when Sunderland’s army of anonymous trolls targeted the company they believed were responsible for the signage at the Black Cats bar last week which caused thousands of heads to drop off in perhaps one of football’s best over-reactions in memory.

The intention of the abuse and trolling is obviously to damage the sign company’s business – regardless of whether they employed Sunderland supporters or not – they would likely be collateral damage in the warped logic of those attacking  a local, independent business that provides employment in the NE.

Is it any wonder loads of Mags hope we never have to clap eyes on them for a very long time.

The Late Shows

After defeats to Cambridge Utd (h) and Sheff Wed (a) in his first two FAC games Eddie Howe of course got his win v Sunderland in the FAC 3^rd round. Following absolutely shite draws in cup competitions this season it didn’t really come as a surprise we were the last club drawn on Monday night and away to a London PL club. On top of that it doesn’t surprise anyone that our game at Fulham will be late on Saturday night at the arse end of January when bank accounts are still recovering from Christmas.

It is good NUST has made its feelings clear on the subject and I’d hope this is a topic for debate when the first Fans Advisory Board is convened – that will be a packed agenda.

I saw the Wor Flags post which detailed the crazy KO times we have been subject to this season and it is quite stark just how much we have been fucked about.

The problem is of course that the away end will be sold out and until we vote with our feet we will have to put up with this bollocks.

Not again

I was starting to get optimistic about our injuries easing and then heard Joelinton is out for six weeks minimum. This is staggering really. Joe had a knock at Sunderland before HT v Sunderland but returned in the second half before being subbed quickly afterwards. Coming after Sven Botman’s interview in which he explained he played with an undiagnosed ACL injury for two games it is a worry what is happening in the management of injured players. Remember Jacob Murphy’s aborted return too?

Is there sufficient medical support for our players? Are the number of games we have played made our players susceptible to injury? Are players being rushed back because we don’t have the numbers?

Thanks for reading.

 Keep On, Keepin’ On …

 Michael Martin, @TFMick1892